Reason
by pika318
Summary: After the incident with Lucifer in Vol 1, Emi wants to know the reason why Maou still keeps the fallen angel around. Maou explains.
1. Reason

**Moko-chan:** dun dun dun...and yet another HataMaou fanfic. Yes, Lucifer related again. This time drawing inspiration from vol 0, some nice art I found on pixiv and my awesome imagination. This takes place sometime between vol 1 and 2.

**One shot:** Reason

* * *

"Why do I keep meeting you here, of all places, Emi?" Maou sighed as he leaned against the handlebars of his faithful steed, Dullahan. He was currently at the pedestrian crossing near his home, the run - down wreck of an apartment known as Villa Rosa.

He would love to cross the road and be on his way back home but he was currently being glared at by his arch-nemesis, Yusa Emi.

"You don't keep meeting me here, this is only the fourth..." Emi started saying angrily.

"Fifth."

"Whatever, fifth time I met you here."

"Five times is aplenty in my book. So what do you want now?"

"I want to ask why...why exactly why did you keep that traitor with you?" Emi crossed her arms over her chest and asked while glaring daggers at Maou.

"Traitor?" Maou stared at her blankly for a while and then casually continued "Oh…you mean Urushihara."

"Urushi…Urushihara…oh right." Emi seemed to stumble over the long name. "Geh. You know I'm talking about Lucifer. What kind of weird name is that? It's as bad as your 'Sadao'."

"Ashiya and I thought of it." Maou said as his face turned sour due to Emi insulting his alias.

"Improve your naming sense would you?"

"You didn't come here just to belittle my naming sense, did you? If so, I'm going home." Maou prepared to pedal off but Emi blocked his way.

"I was asking why you're keeping Lucifer with you?" Emi asked again, a bit louder than before.

"Why not?"

"He tried to kill you and Alsiel without so much as batting an eyelid. Aren't you concerned that he may try to do it again?"

"I thought you would be happy if I died." Maou raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I would, but I'll be pissed if you died pathetically by being done in by your own subordinate."

"Ah. Thanks for your concern then."

"Stop trying to change the topic!" Emi was steaming from the ears now.

Maou sighed. If he didn't answer her at all, she was just going to keep pestering him and he would never be able to get home on time. He turned to her and started to speak,

"Ah…if I had to think of a reason why…" Maou thought hard, thinking of a good answer to the Hero's question. It wasn't long before he started to get lost in his own thoughts.

* * *

The first time Satan met Lucifer was almost 300 years ago. He was still a small little goblin just shy of being two decades old. He had a few followers then and currently only one of them, a bird like demon by the name of Kameo, decided to follow him on his travels.

Kameo had warned Satan that Lucifer was a frightening demon, the strongest in the Demon World, a strange demon with a human like appearance and feathered wings. No one who faced him had been left alive. The only thing that they can be sure of is that he was always alone.

"He is strong in both magic and physical combat. Satan, he is far too dangerous!" Kameo warned the small demon that he had chosen to follow. "What have I told you about avoiding opponents who are much too strong for you?!"

Satan rubbed his sore ears in response to Kameo's loud lecture and replied "I know, I know. If we avoid strong opponents, then we'll have a larger chance of surviving."

"Exactly." Kameo concluded, crossing his arms with a stern expression on his face.

"But I would want such a strong demon like him to follow me when I become king! Think about it, if he joins us, then we'll be so much stronger and won't have to keep running away all the time!" Satan stubbornly argued. He ignored Kameo's warnings and went to find this powerful demon.

"What do you want, brat?"

Satan could not resist flinching when the other demon loomed over him.

The young demon had tracked the so called legendary demon down and promptly woke him up from his nap. The other party was, obviously, furious.

"Do you want me to kill you?" The demon growled.

Despite being frightened initially, Satan stood his ground.

"I heard about you, Lucifer! I want you to join my army!" Satan declared loudly. He could hear Kameo groaning behind him.

Lucifer stared at Satan, his amethyst eyes widened in surprise and then he started laughing.

"Are you joking? A little worm like you has an army?!"

"Satan - sama does have an army!" Kameo protested but quickly fell silent when Lucifer glared at him.

"You're called Satan? Sheesh...how many idiot demons name their offspring 'Satan' anyway?"

"Quite a lot actually. And I will not allow you to disgrace the honor of my parents even though they aren't around anymore."

"You have quite a big mouth for a little pipsqueak . Now buzz off. I'm not interested." Lucifer waved his hand like he was shooing an insect away.

"I'm going to be the next demon king! You won't regret joining me!" This time Satan had moved closer to Lucifer.

"Are you nuts? Do you know how many thousands of other demons want to be king? What do you have that can beat other demons to the throne?"

"Intelligence and knowledge. I'm not like the other barbaric demons." Satan crossed his arms proudly when he said that.

"Intelligence and knowledge?" Lucifer laughed again. "Now where did you pick up something like that?"

"Well...from someone. Anyway, if you join me,you won't be bored! Aren't you bored being alone like this?"

Lucifer seemed to be pondering what Satan said very carefully.

"Fine. I'll join you…" he said suddenly with a sly smile.

Kameo noticed the smile and was about to say something but Satan quickly said very cheerfully,

"Great!"

"On one condition. You must complete the task that I give you. If you do, I'll follow you. If not…"

"If not…" Satan gulped.

"I'll think of something. Depends on whether you make it out alive. Now, what you have to do is…"

Lucifer told the little demon his mission and ordered him, much to Kameo's protest, to do it alone.

Fortunately for Satan, he managed to complete the task alive (though he got a bit of help from Lucifer) and the fallen angel started to follow him.

* * *

"Well, for starters,I pretty much forced him into my army." Maou scratched his head sheepishly.

"Uh - huh." Emi muttered, her arms still crossed.

"Also..."

* * *

Satan was thrown onto the dirt ground hard, enough to knock his breath out.

"And with that, you'll be dead another time." Lucifer dramatically clapped his hands, getting the dust off them.

"Owwww...I thought I had it for sure." Satan muttered, rubbing his head while he got back to a standing position.

"Oi, Kameo."

Kameo who was just observing from the side seemed to jump when Lucifer called out to him.

"What is it, Lucifer?"

Lucifer frowned as the bird demon failed to address him with honorifics…again despite the fact that he calls a small demon only a few decades old his lord. But as Lucifer was a bit tired of reminding Kameo multiple times in a day, he decided that he'll let it slide this time.

"Did you teach Satan how to fight?"

"Yes I did. But he has a few skills of his own before I stepped in."

"I do know how to fight... a little. The older goblins in my tribe taught me how to." Satan replied.

"Besides, if any danger should befall Satan-sama, you and I should be able to defend him." Kameo said proudly.

Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous." He jabbed a finger at Satan's chest. "You want to be king right?"

"'Course!"

"Then you jolly well learn how to fight properly. Punching and kicking and those pathetic little fireworks do not equate to fighting properly."

A blush rose to Satan's face when he thought how stupid and amateurish his fighting must be.

"Should any of your subordinates fall, at least you can defend yourself. Kameo, don't give me that face. If you're going to defend this brat with your life, then there is a possibility that you will lose your life as well." Lucifer was talking to Satan only when he realised that Kameo looked like he was going to protest again.

"Uh...ok? I get it?"

"Good. I'll teach you how to fight properly and use more advanced magic." Then Lucifer grinned. "You better be prepared because I don't go easy on anyone."

And soon after, Lucifer wiped the floor with the little demon again.

* * *

"He helped me and Ashiya with some things."

"Useless things." Emi immediately added.

"Oi. Don't just assume that's how it is, would you?" Maou said, smiling a forced smile.

"Asking him to call my workplace using the Skyphone isn't useless?" Emi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That was for fun, okay…I mean, back in the Demon World, he really taught Ashiya and I many things."

"Like?" Emi probed.

"Like…"

* * *

The little demon was no longer a small goblin. Decades passes and he grew bigger, stronger and faster. He also grew wiser and very quickly, more and more demons followed his leadership.

Some tribes, of course, did not yield to him that readily and some show of force was required before they are convinced that they are following the right demon. One of the tribes belonged to Alsiel, a group of armored demons with high levels of defense and were highly skilled in magic. Alsiel, formerly the leader of his tribe decided to pledge his loyalty to Satan after being defeated by him.

And so this incident happened a day after he joined Satan's army.

"Oh, a letter from Kameo." Satan reached out a claw and plucked a roll of parchment from a crow's claw. The crow flew in a circle around the large demon's head before flying off again.

Lucifer briefly glanced through the letter and made no comment.

"You can read that?"

""Eh?""

Both Satan and Lucifer made a surprised noise when Alsiel asked that question.

"The words on that parchment. You can read that?" Alsiel reiterated his question.

"Yeah…We can…" Satan said slowly then he seemed to have realised something. "Oh right, I forgot that most of us cannot read…or write."

"It's not as if demons have much of a writing system anyway." Lucifer chuckled.

"Then what language do you use?" Alsiel asked, confused and bewildered.

"Unfortunately…since demons don't have a fixed writing system, we're using the humans' writing system. I think it was their common trading language or something. I was pretty surprised that Kameo knew it too when I first met him." Satan said.

But if one knew that Kameo was the master of languages, it may not be that surprising after all.

"Where...did you learn all that?" Alsiel asked. From his tone, it was clear he was envious about their skill.

"Eh…someone taught me a long time ago…" Satan muttered, looking in another direction. "Hey, Lucifer, how about you?"

Satan quickly deflected the arrow to the fallen angel.

"If you live as long as me…you pick up stuff like this sooner or later." Lucifer gave a careless answer. He walked up to Alsiel and said with a smug look.

"You really can't read or write?"

"Not at all." Alsiel replied, giving an annoyed look at Lucifer's high and mighty attitude.

"Do you want me to teach you?"

"What?" Now he looked shocked.

"You can't expect the future Demon King to do it. He has other duties to fulfil. Besides, I'm free."

Alsiel's eyes narrowed. He was thinking quite hard about it before saying:

"I'll be in your debt."

"Then you better prepare to study hard, because I'm a strict one." Lucifer said with a smirk.

"Yeah, Alsiel, you should be prepared, I know all about how merciless he can be sometimes." Satan said, a wry smile on his face.

* * *

"Well…and after I became King…Lucifer actually wanted to leave but I didn't let him." Maou continued talking.

Emi was seriously regretting asking the question in the first place, she wasn't prepared for such a long story. But she had to admit, somewhere deep inside, she was curious.

Even the Demon Minister Kameo flinched when Lucifer stormed into the Demon King's study and started shouting at him.

"What the hell were you thinking? Demon King?!" Lucifer had strode across the room, towards Satan, now the Demon King, grabbed his mantle and yanked down hard.

Satan tilted forward as the smaller demon pulled his mantle. He smiled in an embarrassed manner.

"I guess I did something I shouldn't have?" Satan asked in a sheepish manner.

"You guess? YOU GUESS?! First you make me one of the Demon Generals without consulting me first and then you announce that I'm an angel?!" Lucifer was practically shouting in Satan's ear now.

"I said 'fallen angel'…" Satan said in a small voice. "But I wasn't wrong was I?"

"How the hell do you know I was an angel?!"

"I met an angel before…before you that is. And uh…you gave me the same feeling that she did."

Lucifer released Satan's mantle. Satan winced because he could tell that the fallen angel was extremely angry at the moment.

"Screw this. I'm leaving." Lucifer turned on his heel and prepared the walk out of the study on to find that Alsiel was blocking the way.

Lucifer stopped, surprised to see Alsiel. Then Alsiel spoke,

"I heard everything. I was the one who nominated you as a Demon General. Not Demon King-sama."

"Wha…"

"Yeah, I wasn't the one! So what if you were an angel? You're a demon now right?" Satan exclaimed. Then he looked at Ashiya,

"You don't mind right?"

"Why should I? Only the narrow minded would care about this. I respect you for your ability and that alone. I do not care if you were an angel before."

Lucifer slapped his palm against his own forehead and groaned.

"Just because you two don't mind doesn't mean the other demons won't. Are you both morons or something? Angels and demons are natural enemies! How do you expect me to lead an army?! They'll sooner kill me first!"

"Then make them respect you." Alsiel said calmly.

"You make it sound so simple."

"I cannot think of any other way."

"If you ask me…" The other three demons turned towards Kameo who has started speaking. Kameo cleared his throat and continued talking.

"Making you a demon general shows that you can be trusted. I do not think that the other demons would lay a hand on you."

"Yeah. Besides, if any of them try to attack you, I'm pretty sure you can take care of yourself."

Lucifer looked at the Demon King, Kameo and Alsiel with some uncertainty. Then he sighed and bowed his head weakly.

"Fine. I'll stay. But…" Lucifer stared at Satan straight in the eye. "If by any chance that I get betrayed, I'm out."

* * *

"So he still stayed in the end, reluctantly at first but he was alright with it afterwards."

Emi had started yawning.

"Then I sent him to Western Isle …where you soon encountered him." Maou said.

Now Emi narrowed her eyes. She remembered the hatred she had for Lucifer for destroying her home.

"Actually, Emi, I think I should really thank you for not killing Lucifer."

"Huh?!" Emi exclaimed very loudly, drawing a few stares from passerbys. She quickly lowered her voice. "It's not as if I did it on purpose!" She hissed.

"I know, I know. But I still want to thank you…"

* * *

"Demon King-sama." The one who was speaking was one of the Demon Generals, Maracoda.

The Demon King looked up from his map and looked at the skeletal demon.

"What news do you bear?"

"Nothing but the worst. The Western General Lucifer has been felled by the hands of the hero. I am afraid that my troops are unable to retrieve him." Maracoda spoke with his head bowed as though expressing his regret.

The Demon King pressed his claws against the bridge of his nose and then said sadly.

"That is truly regretful. I am glad that you managed to retreat, Maracoda." The Demon King gave a sorrowful smile.

"I am glad to escape with my life as well."

* * *

"Man, you wouldn't believe how devastated I was." Maou laughed, thinking of how pathetic he must have looked in the past.

Emi had a strange look on a face.

"You know during that earthquake at Shibuya? And after you told me someone warned you in advance?"

"Um...yeah. What about it?" Emi asked.

"I figured that it might have been Lucifer behind the whole thing. Maracoda and Adramelech would not do things like warning or psyching the enemy. But he was the only one who was reported to me as dead, so I wasn't sure whether it was really him or not until he appeared in front of us." Maou explained.

Now Emi was drumming her fingers against her arm impatiently.

_Why is Maou telling me all this? He's like an old man reminiscing about a past his grandchildren don't want to listen to!_

"You know...uh...Maou...I think I'll go back now…" Emi started saying while simultaneously trying to turn the other direction.

"So I was actually really happy to see him...huh? Did I get carried away? And you're going already? Hey, you were the one who asked in the first place." Maou said with a sour look.

"Yes and I'm really sorry for it!" With that, Emi quickly turned and walked briskly to the station.

"What's with her…" Maou mumbled to himself and then he made his way back home.

* * *

"Welcome back, Demon King-sama." Maou was immediately greeted by Ashiya when he entered the doorway of apartment 201.

"Yeah I'm back." Maou replied and then he looked at the other resident of the household, Urushihara and repeated in a louder voice. "I'M BACK!"

Urushihara turned from his computer and scowled. "I heard you! No need to shout!"

"Where's my 'welcome back?'"

"Ashiya said it already." Urushihara grumbled.

"It's only customary in Japan that you…" Maou started lecturing.

"Can you be even more naggy?! Welcome back! There! Happy?" Urushihara snapped.

"Much better." Maou looked to Ashiya who was giving a look which seemed to say, 'How did our roles ever get switched to such a large extent?'

Maou shrugged, as if to say, "I know right."

* * *

**Moko-chan:** Ok that's all, yeah!


	2. Gratitude

**Moko-Chan: **Oh, I thought this was supposed to be a one shot? Haha, changed my mind. Adding another chapter to it because I had an idea that seemed like it would fit. Enjoy.

**pika318: **The main inspiration of this fic came from Volume 0 of the novel.

* * *

**One shot: **Gratitude

* * *

It was the middle of the night. Maou Sadao rolled onto his side as he tried to get to sleep. The words of his archnemesis, the Hero Emilia played in his head over and over again.

"_Why exactly do you keep that traitor with you?"_

Maou tilted his head slightly upward to look at the back of the said "traitor". The light from the old laptop illuminated part of the room, casting a shadow of his figure against the kitchen side of the dingy apartment. He seemed to be watching a video. At least he had the courtesy of using headphones.

Next to Maou was one of his loyal generals, Ashiya Shiro, who was fast asleep. Or at least he seemed to be. A bit of shifting of the shoulders and legs indicated that he was actually having trouble sleeping due to the light. But for now, he still had enough tolerance not to give the smaller demon a harsh scolding.

_There's actually one more reason...I guess even Emi would think it's dumb…_

Maou closed his eyes and started thinking about his younger years in the Demon World. That time, two angels saved him, one saved his body, and the other, his mind.

* * *

A loud roar ripped through the air that was thick with the smell of blood, drowning the screams of the hundreds of members of the Black Goat Clan. The roar belonged to a large tattooed demon. It had no horns or sharp claws but its giant muscles made up for most of its destructive power. The tattooed demon was pasty pale and wore some animal skins around its waist, making it stand out in the dark. Reddish tattoos circled its limbs. The most distinct tattoo of its clan was the blood red eye shaped tattoo in the middle of its forehead. Several smaller members of its clan were around it, charging down the poorly made huts of the Goat like demons.

"Mama, our home…" A small demon with goat horns, hooves, a petite body and bat like wings was getting roughly dragged by a larger female demon with similar features across the rocky ground. He turned his head towards the chaos that was unfolding in the area they called their home.

"Satan, don't look back, run, just run!" The female demon urged her son, pulling his thin wrist. Seeing that her son was starting to have trouble keeping up with her speed, she scooped her son into her arms and started running as fast as she could. The thunderous sound of the tattooed demon's footsteps rang dully in her ears as the bloodthirsty demon started to catch up with her. The grasp of the large pale demon was closing in.

"Quira!"

A loud shout was heard.

The female Black Goat demon turned to see a male demon, her mate, launching himself at the tattooed demon. Though he was one of the larger members in the clan, the mass of his body was barely half of the tattooed demon's, and he only managed to unbalance it. He clung onto the tattooed demons broad back tightly, digging his claws into its flesh. Fire orbs appeared around the tattooed demon, striking it continuously.

"RUN!"

Just as the words left his mouth, another smaller tattooed demon covered in blood ran up, snarling. It ripped the male goat demon from its comrade and slammed him violently into the rocky ground. A loud crunching sound could be heard and the male Black Goat demon lay motionless on the ground, his bones crushed. The dry ground beneath him quickly absorbed the blood flowing out of his body, turning a dark red.

The one called Quira stared at the still body of her mate whom she spent several decades with. Then with a low growl, she turned and continued running. However, she did not manage to move far. A large boulder hit her back and she was thrown onto the ground. She dropped her son who rolled a short distance away.

"Mama!" The young demon called Satan yelled. Then he felt himself being lifted off the ground. His mother's face and hands were getting further away. She stretched her arm out trying to grab her son but all she clenched was air. With a sharp cry, a large boulder flew towards the tattooed demon holding her son. It got hit in the head and flinched. Its grip loosened a bit but the young demon was not released. Shortly after, his mother's head got kicked by another tattooed demon, killing her. The other tattooed demons gathered around him laughing. Laughing at the violence they dealt on this small weak clan, at the clan they completely exterminated. The young demon cried as his clan's killers closed in on him.

* * *

"That's so mean of you, Satan. How could you fall asleep when I talking about professional licenses?"

Satan opened his eyes wearily, and through his teary eyes, he saw the same silver haired creature who chanced upon him as he lay in a pool of blood. She had placed her hands on her hips and bent over to look at him.

"Since you're tired, I guess I'll forgive you." She said with a laugh.

"Are you hungry? Eh? Do demons even get hungry? Maybe I'll get you some water instead?"

The strange creature started walking around as she talked at her own pace. As she walked, Satan stared at the snow white wings which barely brushed the ground.

"Oh are you interested in these? I guess not many demons have wings like these. Ah, there are demons with this kind of wings... What were they called again? Paha~~~eh, I can't remember. But their leader seems really smart. When you get better, you should look for them! But I guess you need to know what they're called first…"

The silver haired creature put a hand to her chin and started thinking but gave up shortly afterwards.

"Ah, forget it, I'll tell you about them when I do remember, for now, I better get some more bandages and water. I wish I could heal you faster, but it's not easy in this kind of environment."

As she turned to the entrance of the cave they were currently hiding in, Satan grabbed the hem of her robes and shook his head weakly.

"Woah, you don't want me to leave? I'll be fine, I'll be fine. I may not look like it, but I'm pretty good at hiding myself. Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon you! There's really nothing I can use here to help you so I need to step out…"

But no matter what she said, Satan still refused to let go. The silver haired creature gave a troubled look, then clapped her hands once.

"I know! Here, you can have this!" The creature exclaimed and started feeling the sides of her skirt before pulling out a small purple crescent shaped crystal. It glowed gently illuminating a small area around it. She squatted next to Satan and placed it in his right hand.

"Hold onto this for now. This child will take care of you! I'll be back soon!" The creature closed her own hands around Satan's so he would hold onto the crystal tightly. With a smile, she left the cave. All Satan heard was the sound of wings flapping and then it was silent.

As promised, the creature came back, speaking with Satan, healing his wounds and teaching him many things he never heard before.

Things about humans.

Things about angels.

Even things about demons lost over the course of time.

She also told Satan many things about herself.

"I'm an angel. Oh, you never heard of angels before?"

"I was actually here to look for a friend. But I can't find him anywhere! Well, maybe I'm not that close to him but I did something unforgivable…"

"That crystal I gave you is from the Yesod Sephira. Oh wait, I better tell you about the Tree of Life first."

"It's called "words". You demons actually had a writing system you know...guess a lot of your ancestors forgot about it…"

* * *

Soon, Satan was well enough to move around by himself, at least, he would definitely able to run if he was in a pinch.

"You're leaving?" Satan asked nonchalantly as the creature, whom he now knows that is an angel, prepared to leave the cave.

"Yes. I think I overstayed. So what are you going to do?" The angel asked back.

"Guess I'll look for Camio...the one you told me about."

"His clan isn't that far from here so it should only take you a few days."

"Ah...um…" Satan fumbled around his scarf. Then he held his hand out. In his hand was the same purple crystal the angel passed to him some time ago.

"Oh! It's for you! I don't need it back." The angel gently pushed his hand back. The young demon stared back and forth between the angel and his hand in confusion. She smiled gently at him and patted his head.

"Take care of her."

"Where are you going?"

"To finish what I started."

The demon tilted his head, not understanding what she said.

"You'll understand in due time. By the way, Satan…"

"Hmm..?"

"I know you're sad...but you have to continue moving forward. Haha, you don't have to look so shocked."

Satan's eyes widened when she said that. During his recovery, the single thought that kept coming back to him repeatedly was that of his clan's massacre.

"I really don't know how to make you stronger, but for the time being...focus on staying alive."

With that, the angel turned.

"Wait...you never told me your name..."

"Ah, I didn't?" The way the angel said this made it sound like she never intended to tell him rather than her simply forgetting about it. But she still told him anyway.

"It's Laila. Good luck, Demon King Satan."

Then with her back facing Satan, she raised her hand gently, waved and stepped out of the dark cave. Satan ran out after her, but she was gone. The only traces left of her were the few giant feathers left on the dirt ground.

* * *

"Satan! What did I tell you about resting, you little brat?"

Satan dropped the boulder he was lifting in surprise and it almost dropped on his foot.

"Wah, that was close."

He turned to the old demon bird who was yelling at him and gave him a very guilty look. The old demon took quick steps towards the small demon and knocked him on the head.

"Yeowch! I'm not tired so I just thought of training some more…." Satan rubbed the top of his sore head and said with an irritated tone.

"Resting is the part of training too. When I say rest, I mean it! How long have you been training today already? You'll collapse instead of getting stronger!" The demon bird started waggling his finger angrily at Satan.

"Okokok! Sorry! Sheesh! Camio, do you have to nag so much? It's not as if we have to sleep or anything..." With a huff, Satan started walking away from the boulder and making his way to the small hut which both of them had made their temporary home.

"Sleep?" Camio asked as the small demon used an unknown term.

"Never mind, pretend I didn't say that." Satan mentally reminded himself not to callously use the knowledge that his benefactor, Laila, had taught him when the concept was strange to most demons.

After entering the hut, Satan sat on the dirt ground and crossed his legs. Shooting a side glance at Camio, he stubbornly declared.

"I'm only going to rest for a while then I'm training again!"

Camio let out a sigh. He sat down next to the young demon and spoke with a tired voice.

"Satan, much as I appreciate your enthusiasm for wanting to train hard...Definitely, you train harder than any of the young ones from the Pahalo clan. I'm almost ashamed to admit it."

Satan was still staring at the dirt floor, irritated.

"...can't defeat you yet."

"What?" Camio leaned in closer as he tried to catch the words that the small horned demon was mumbling.

"I said...I CAN'T DEFEAT YOU YET!"

The old demon fell backward and the sudden shouting. Then he stared at Satan with his eyes widened in surprise.

"That's your reason?"

"Yeah." Satan went back to his normal volume. Right after that single affirmation left Satan's mouth, Camio started laughing.

"Satan. You really are very ambitious. Have you forgotten that you're still a child? How can you even think that you can defeat me now? All the skill and power I have now took time to build up."

"I know…." Satan grumbled.

"Then?"

"I just thought...look, I just want to get really strong as fast as possible."

"Why is that?" Camio asked.

Satan fell silent as memories of his dead family members came back to him. Although he kept telling himself that killing off the Tattooed Demon group to avenge the brutal demise of his clan was a reckless and silly thing, the thoughts of his family just being killed off just like insignificant weak insects haunted him continuously.

"Sigh...I just want to stop thinking about my clan's extinction, that's all…" Satan finally said.

"Your clan got killed by the One eyed Tattooed demon clan right? They are a really brutal group." Camio commented.

"Yeah...I know what's past is past and I shouldn't be hung up over it…but I can't help it. If only there's a way to let my family members find peace…" Satan started to trail off.

"Satan. I'm sure your family members wouldn't want you to hurt yourself for their sake. Besides…" Camio was about to continue when he got interrupted by the young demon.

"I know! That's why I want to get stronger so I can beat them! ...Eh wait, Camio, what were you about to say?" Satan stood up and shouted in an agitated manner, but when he noticed that Camio's mouth was still open as though about to say something else, his shoulders slackened and asked the older demon to continue.

"That's why I said you're still a brat…" Camio sighed again.

"Tell me! What did you want to say?!" Satan stepped towards Camio and grabbed his robes, urging him to continue his words.

"I wanted to say that "The group that killed off your clansmen are all dead already."

Satan released the robe and gaped.

"They're dead already? Which clan killed them? Is it the Iron Scorpions? The Ashen Horns? No, they're too far away from my old home to encounter them...the only clan around here is yours!" Satan started shooting one question after another.

"It wasn't any clan that finished them off. It was one single demon." Camio replied.

"Wha...how? A single clanless demon?"

"Yes...He's not a normal vagrant demon though…"

Camio started to tell Satan about the time he witnessed the tyrannical demons' deaths.

* * *

Several dark bird demons stood in the centre of a massacre.

"How cruel...is there none of them left?" Camio asked as he himself surveyed the area.

"None at all. Lord Camio...We searched the entire area. Nothing but corpses." A younger member of his clan spoke up.

"Sigh, we should have come earlier. I wanted their clan to join ours…" Camio lowered his head, saying those words with deep regret.

In a time where larger clans had the most dominance in the area, the weaker ones can only grasp onto the thin hope of survival by grouping together despite their differences.

"Lord Camio!" Another young clansman flew towards the group.

"What is it?"

"I spotted him...Lucifer! He's headed this way!" The clansman said in a panicked voice.

The rest spread their wings, ready to flee as fast as their wings will take them.

"No! He will surely spot us! Use your magic and hide now!" Camio stopped them, proposing an alternative strategy. The other nodded, agreeing with the older demon's suggestion. They used simple spells to drain their magic. And due to the innate ability all their clans members had, they shrank to about half their usual size. Then they ran behind some boulders and watched from there.

And just in the nick of time as well. The demon known as Lucifer landed in the same area the bird demons were just at.

"He such a small demon...Are you sure we should be scared of him, Lord Camio?" Another one of Camio's clansmen asked skeptically. None of them except for Camio himself had seen Lucifer before so they were surprised that Lucifer's petite structure did not match the image they had from the fearsome stories they heard about him. The only thing they heard about his appearance was that he had black wings like their own but the rest of him was not covered in feathers and he had a "human-like" appearance.

"If he sees you, you'll be dead before you can even blink." Camio glared at the clansmen who asked that question. Camio was the only one among his clan who faced Lucifer head on so no one doubted his opinion on Lucifer's strength.

They watched silently as Lucifer paced around the corpses of the fallen Black Goat clan, occasionally prodding them with his foot as though checking if they were still alive.

*Rumble*

The group of Pahalo demons turned to stare in a far off direction as they heard a rumbling noise.

"Did you hear that?" One of the bird demons whispered. It seemed that Lucifer heard the noise too as he turned in the same direction. Just as they were all wondering what caused that noise, their questions were answered by the appearance of the group of One eyed tattooed demons.

Camio held his breath as the massive white demons lumbered closer. Though Camio was sure his entire group would be able to take down one of them despite their current weakened state, there were at least a dozen of them in the group. They would definitely be slaughtered if the tattooed demons found them. However, fortunately for them, the tattooed demons' attentions were attracted by something else. One of the smaller tattooed demons grabbed a boulder and started charging at Lucifer, swinging the large object towards him.

The boulder came into contact with the dirt ground. The tattooed demons looked around in confusion because there was no obvious sound of the winged demon being crushed under the boulder. The smaller tattooed demon lifted the boulder up again and just as expected, there was nothing flattened by the boulder, not even a bug. Then the demon suddenly collapsed. A large smoking hole was seen where its stomach used to be.

The other tattooed demons looked up in shock and saw Lucifer in the air with a few purple orbs hovering around him. With a wave, the purple orbs glowed and found their targets. All the tattooed demons collapsed on the ground, dead.

Lucifer seemed to give a disappointed look and started looking around.

The bird demons huddled closer together hoping they would not be found. There was no way they wanted to be caught in the slaughter they just witnessed. Luckily for them, Lucifer seemed to have gotten bored after a few minutes of looking around and flew off.

After several more minutes, the members of the weak Pahalo clan felt it was safe enough to emerge from their hiding places and went to the tattooed demons. All of the tattooed demons had at least one hole blown into them.

"That...was amazing." One of the clan members gasped.

"Like I said, Lucifer...is a real monster. Don't ever cross paths with him." Camio said.

With that, the bird demons flew back towards their settlement.

* * *

_Even if he did not mean it...It was because of that, I stopped obsessing over killing off those tattooed demons. I should thank him for that._

Maou glanced towards the fallen angel again as he thought this-

_If I told him about that, he'll probably laugh it off as me being stupid. Guess not_

but changed his mind soon after. He might mention it one day, but not anytime soon. For now, there was something more important to do.

Maou rolled over and pulled on a corner of Urushihara's shirt.

"Hey, Urushihara." Maou hissed softly.

Urushihara turned his head removed his headphones while frowning.

"What…" He asked grumpily.

"Go to sleep."

"Whatever. Later." Urushihara attempted to put his headphones back on but Maou grabbed his hand.

"Now."

"Fineeeeeeee….Sheesh." Urushihara closed his laptop, placed his headphones on them and shuffled to a corner of the room and laid there.

"Finally." Maou heard Ashiya muttering.

_Guess someone wasn't asleep._

Maou closed his eyes and had another dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Moko-chan**: Yay done.

**pika318: **Even though we primarily write stories for each other to read, we still appreciate nice reviews from all of you.


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